I purchased a Feadog D and have been practicing with it for about a week.
I am very disappointed because to me it just sounds like a toy… very much like a recorder. When I think tin whistle, I think of a high, piercing clear sound… and all I have is a low, rusty, recorder-y sound (with a good share of squawks and squeaks).
Did I choose a “difficult” whistle as a first whistle? meaning, does it take a better whistle player to make it sound like anything but a cheap toy?
Also, it seems that all the whistle players I admire in bands like the Pogues, etc… have whistles that sound very high and clear. What kind of whistles are those? Even the 2nd octave of this Feadog D doesn’t sound as high to me as the clear piercing prettiness of the whistles I hear in bands. Any suggestions? Like, “keep practicing, it will sound better”, or “get a different whistle”?
Also, part 2 of my post, can you identify what kind of whistle this guy is playing? it looks cool and I like the clear high sound. Thanks! http://youtube.com/watch?v=HEt2XdN_TbQ
Some whistles just have a pure piercing sound, and others have a little bit of roughness to them. I don’t really like Feadogs, but it’s just a matter of personal preference. I like pure-sounding whistles, and my favorite cheapie is the Oak, so you might give that a try and see if you like it. Some folks will warn you that it takes a lot of breath control, but I think it just takes practice and getting used to it like ANY other whistle.
That being said, I’d like to echo Aanvil’s advice of “Practice, your whistle is fine.” In time, you will learn to control it, and those squeaks and squawks will become less and less frequent.
It truly is a matter of practice, practice, and more practice. When you’re good, you make the whistle sound good. Feadogs really are a bit of a difficult whistle for a beginner; they’re not very forgiving, but those squeaks and squawks will teach you better breath control and cleaner fingering.
Really, any instrument can sound like a cheap toy in inexperienced hands. Give an inexperienced guitarist a Fender, and it won’t sound any better than a Yamaha. Hell, a good player can make a recorder sound professional, for that matter.
I used to sound like that when I picked up my first whistle too, and I was disappointed as well. Now I’ve been playing for about 2+ months and, although I can’t say I’m GOOD now, I’m not BAD either. My whistles now sound like TRUE whistles, and not like a recorder.
You have to practice a lot, but I’m sure in a little time you’ll be able to play quite good and sound like a whistle-player
I recently bought a Feadog D. I didn’t like it at a first time, but now I love it, it’s one of my favorites, and I’m playing it a lot. I think it’s a good one to start with, but first you should learn to control it!
If it doesn’t get better, you might want to buy a second whistle to compare. The quality control on low-end whistles isn’t great, so you may have just gotten a bad one.
It should sound good to you as your playing improves, but keep in mind that your listeners – even listeners just a few feet away – will hear something different from what you hear. Many of the complex sounds you hear don’t go that far.
Then there is the stage magic. You can balance the octaves, add a little reverberation.
I guess the point I am making is that you will certainly sound better with time and you might sound better than you think even now.
Hm, I think Feadog is more or less fine, although it´s not great indeed.
That higher sound is because large parts of these songs are played in second octave mostly
Spider Stacy from the Pogues (yes, I love them too) played something Generation-ish until about 86, when he switched for Overtons and as far as I know, he has them and plays them until today.
Overtons are magnificent whistles indeed, I own one and it´s the best thing I´ve played. It´s not the cheapest whistle though. And in my opinion, it´s difficult to tame at first, so I would advise not to start with it.
Yes, Spider Stacy of the Pogues played Generations.
Feadogs are great whistles but they are among the tougher whistles to tame, especially for a beginner. They are one of the best cheap whistles I’ve played in terms of consistency and being in tune with itself. They are loud and require attention to breath control to keep the buzzes and squawks at bay. These are good whistles but that doesn’t mean that they are the whistle for you. Nice thing about the cheapies is that they are… cheap! Buy yourself a Generation and give that a shot. Other cheapie whistles I’ve seen on stage with various Irish influenced bands throughout the last two decades include Waltons LBW, Clarke Sweetone and Oak.
When i first got my first whistle i was a little disappointed. I waited for it for two weeks to get to me from amazon, and when it did i was expecting this huge irish sound out of it, even though on first look it looked like a toy. I blew it, played a few rudimentary notes, and my suspicions that this thing that cost 7 bucks, almost more to ship than it cost, was a toy was confirmed.
My wife thought it sounded idiotic, but something about it reminded me of the legend of zelda. I popped the game in, listened to the opening song, and there it was, the same sound at the beginning of the windwaker, and that did not sound at all like a toy.
So i found the music to the legend of zelda, and by the time i got that song down, the whistle through some magic of its own started to sound more and more like an instrument and less like a toy.
Now i love the sound of the whistle. That first whistle was a walton’s in d, and since i have gotten a faedog, and can say that of all my whistles (bbasically the gamut of cheapies, oak, gens, clarkes, a sweetone, freeman tweaked shaw) the faedog is my second favorite, second only to my dixon trad. It would be first but i have sensitive ears and the high a and b hurt it a bit, whereas the high a and b on the trad do not.
By the way - I checked the second video to find out it´s Young Ned (awesome tune in my opinion). I doubt it would be D, as stated before, I always play it on C whistle (even along the record, which sorts of makes it clear ). It´s probably playable on D too, but on C whistle, there are no half-holes and such things. To matter of brand, it´s Overton definitely.
Now, Bernard Overton doesn´t make so many whistles I think, but his successor in Overton, Colin Goldie does, and I think he does the job so well, it should be equal, or better quality than of Bernard.
the first time I played the whistle it was a feadog too. after two years of wondering how people could make nice music on those things I tried a different whistle and then I was hooked. I recomend getting a clark as your first whistle or an oak
The whistle in the first vid is almost definately a Shaw. Great whistles! Some Feadogs are great and some absolutely STINK! As Aanvil said there could be something in the whistle and I(t) will cause problems.
the first time I played the whistle it was a feadog too. after two years of wondering how people could make nice music on those things I tried a different whistle and then I was hooked. I recomend getting a clark as your first whistle or an oak
With just a quick listen, it sounds like either a Bb or low Eb, the only pitch I don’t have (yet). Most likely a low Eb but I can play it on my Bb whistle.
My fave high D whistle is the Clarke original design.
Thank you very much everyone for being so generous with your time and personal anecdotes. They were very reassuring! It will be interesting to see what the passage of time brings as far as my opinion about this particular whistle. Meanwhile, I will try out a couple of the brands recommended. And thanks for playing “name this whistle” with the youtube clips.
As Aanvil said there could be something in the whistle and I(t) will cause problems.